Wow, have I been inactive here for a while? (The answer is: Yup. Yes. Yeah. Definitely.)
I’ll make up for that, I promise.
As some of you might already know, I decided to do NaNoWriMo this November, on a crazy whim. Some of the chapters produced during those 30 stressful (but of course also tremendously fun and fulfilling) days can be found on this site. Just go to the menu and expand the “Stories” section, and then look under the “Magic, Games and Shadow Names” sub.
Anyways, writing devoured most of my time in November, and when the month was over (and I did finish NaNo on time, by the way) I was totally spent. After that I’ve been rather busy with working (my new job’s still awesome), preparing for Christmas and going to some tedious medical examinations. So I hope I’ll be forgiven for not updating here as often as I would have liked.
There are some updates to be done, however. And that’s what this post is about, if you hadn’t guessed already. Some pretty exciting stuff is happening in my life right now, and I’d like to share those things with you. I’m a sucker for list lately, so I think I’ll just make it one of those. Here goes:
- I’ve been appointed as a columnist for the brand new Swedish gaming site Mind Your Own Gamin (MyoG) that opens up in January. I’ll be writing opinion pieces about video games, RPG, board games and other things pertaining to the hobby. I’m super excited for this, especially since the idea for the site is to take up the cudgels for equality in the gaming industry. Thus all the site’s writers and content creators are either female or non binary. Totally awesome.
- I will probably be participating as an event dungeon master during next year’s GothCon-convention in Gothenburg, Sweden. There is a gaming society called Leia that is trying to get more women and non-binary people into the gaming hobby, and they are organizing inspirational and informative activities during the convention to that goal. I’ve been included in their preliminary schedule, and if nothing changes I will probably be GM:ing introductory RPG-sessions for girls, women and non-binary players during the weekend. The convention will be held between March 30 and April 1 next year. So drop in if you want to be a player in one of my groups!
- I should have definitely pitched for this earlier, but here goes. Earlier this year I was contacted by writer Dale Rominger with an invitation to upload texts to his wonderful site The Back Road Café. By now I have some short stories and chapters hosted there, in a really nice section that has been built just for me amongst the pages of a number of great writers. I’m super thrilled, thankful and happy to have been picked for this opportunity. I really recommend you visit the site, as well as check out Dale Rominger’s Facebook page and his books, for example The Girl in the Silver Mask.
- I have mentioned the Tabletop Thane Etsy shop, right? If not, I’ll gladly mention it again. My partner Alex is a really skilled artisan who designs and creates everything from brass steampunk lamps to cool leather armor. And between those two categories, there is also his beautiful (but eerie) Lovecraft inspired clay figures. He makes Cthulhu-idols, “ritual” clay tablets and many other things, and I have the privilege to have been involved in the creation of the related concept/gift/adventure-packages found in his Etsy shop. These packages come with a clay figure or tablet, together with thematic letters, texts or stories written by me. I’ve always been highly inspired by H.P Lovecraft, and in these texts I get to really indulge in those signature archaic adjectives, poetic (but looong) sentences and gothic, eldritch horrors of his. I’ve gotten some really nice feedback on the adventure-package texts and many people seem to think that they enrich the experience of the gifts. So if you’ve not yet finished all your Christmas shopping (and if you have a friend or relative who is into Lovecraft, horror, RPG or the eerie and eldritch in general), I would love for you to drop by the shop and have a look. I’m indescribably happy that my writing can be part of someone’s gift experience.
- And finally: my dark urban fantasy novel is almost done. It’s the one called “Magic, Games and Shadow Names”, the first chapters of which can be found in the left menu on this site. I finished most of it during November’s NaNoWriMo, and now I only have to finish up the story and go through the editing. After that I’m not sure what will happen, but hopefully I’ll be able to find a publisher who wants to work with it. I’ve never done that part before, so I’m kind of excited to see how things will pan out. If you have any tips or suggestions on how to move forward once the manuscript is done, I would really appreciate to hear them. 🙂
And that’s that, I suppose. At least for the time being. Phew.
Now I really have to stop, because I have some washing to do and some columns to write. Thank you for reading, I really appreciate it.
And if you don’t hear from me again during what remains of this year, I want to wish you a really merry Christmas and a happy new year!
All the best,
Chris Smedbakken
...these grains of sand 